Bicycle frame



N0. 6!],077. Patented Sept. 20, I898.

F. H. was & w. DUNN.

BICYCLE FRAME (Application filed July 6, 1897.) (No Model.) 2 $heets-$heet l.

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F. H. NIES & W. DUNN.

BICYCLE FRAME.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

' ATTORNEY (No Model.)

WITNESSES: I

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC v FREDERICK H. NIES AND WVILLIAM DUNN, OF NElV YORK, N. Y.

BlCYCLE-FRAM E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 0. 611,077, dated September 20, 1898.

Application filed July 6, 1897. Serial No. 643,522. (No model.)

To all whom it rmty concern.-

Be it known that we, FREDERICK H. NIEs, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, (Brooklyn,) Kings county, and WVIL- LIAM DUNN, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing in the city and county of New York, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Velocipede-Frames, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to the class of velocipede-frames wherein a part of the frame is made to serve the double purpose of a brace and a gear-case; and the object is to provide a gear-case which will permit of free and ready access to the chain and sprocket-wheels for cleaning, oiling, &c., and which will add very little to the weight of the velocipede, as the gear-case displaces one of the longitudinal members of the frame thereof. The construction permits of taking up slack in the driving-chain with the same facility as in the common construction of frames and excludes dust and grit.

The accompanying drawings illustrate an embodiment of the invention in a bicycleframe.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of that portion of the bicycle-frame embodying our invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the'frame with the face-plate or cover-plate of the gearcase omitted. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the parts seen in Fig. 1. Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 are fragmentary detail views, on a larger scale than the principal views, illustrating the means for securing the face-plate when in place on the gear-case. Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on line 03 in Fig. 9, showing, on a large scale, the construction of the housing for the lesser sprocket-wheel and the means for tightening the chain. Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the part seen in Fig. 8 and drawn to the same scale.

Ordinarily there are two tubular members in a bicycle-frame, extending from the crankshaft hanger 1 back to the spindle on which the hub 2 of the rearwheel rotates, these members diverging laterally from a vertical plane passing through the longitudinal axis of the bicycle-frame. One of thesemembers, 3, is shown in Fig. 3. The other is replaced and substituted by a gear-case, which does not deflect laterally, but has its longitudinal axis parallel with the bicycle-frame. The major fixed portion A of this gear-case is of elongated form, rounded at its ends, slightly concave on its upper edge, and convex on its lower edge, this convexity extending lengthwise and corresponding to the sag in the chain. At the end of the gear-case (seen at the right in Figs. l, 2, and 3) is formed a housing 4 for the larger crank-axle sprocketwheel 5, and at the other end of the gear-case is formed the housing 6 for the smaller sprocket-wheel 7, Fig. 8, on the hub 2 of the rear wheel. These housings 4 and 6 are connected rigidly by trough-like members 8 and 8 for the respective upper and lower runs of the chain 9. At its forward or wider end the gear-case A has a sleeve 10, Fig. 3, which fits over and is brazed or otherwise rigidly secured to the crank-shaft hanger 1, and the case is connected rigidly to the frame member 3 by a cross member 11. (Seen in Fig. 3.) At its rear end the case A is rigidly secured, by brazing or otherwise, to an upright member 12 of the bicycle-frame. Thus the case A substitutes the member of the ordinary frame corresponding to the member 3 and becomes a rigid and substantial part of the frame of the bicycle.

It will be noted by inspection of Fig. 2 that the two trough-like members 8 and 8 of the gear-case are curved downward longitudinally, being convex at their lower sides, so as to conform to the sag of the chain 9, and that they converge in a vertical plan, also to conform to the convergence of the chain. To allow for the usual lateral play of the chain in its runs between the sprocket-wheels, these members 8 and 8 are also widened laterally at their middle portions, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, while the housings for the sprocketwheels at the ends of the gear-case are kept as thin laterally as possible, as the chain can have no lateral play on and adjacent to the sprocket-wheels.

Referring especially-to Figs. 8 and 9, the construction of the housing 6 and the means for taking up the slack in the chain will now be described.

The front of the housing 6 is covered by a fixed plate 6 and the end or convex face is cut away and covered by a semicircular removable plate 13, which has lips 13, that take over the front plate (5. There is aslot 14 in front plate 6, and in this slot slides a plate 15, in which the spindle 2 on which the rear wheel rotates, has its bearing at that side of the bicycle. To this sliding plate 15 is rigidly secured a screw-threaded stem 15, which extends out through a hole in the plate 13 and is furnished with a nut 15 for drawing back the spindle 2 in taking up the slack in the chain 9. The hub 2 of the rear wheel has a close bearingin a broad slideplate 16, Fig. 8, mounted in dovetail guides in the margins of a slot in the back plate of the housing (5. This plate 16 and the plate 15 are designed to permit the necessary movement of the rear wheel in taking up slack in the chain and yet to exclude dust from the housing and casin g. \Vhen the adjustment is effected, the spindle 2 is clamped fast to the sliding plate 15 by a nut 2". (Seen best in Figs. 8 and 9.) At the other end of the hub 2 the frame is provided with the ordinary means for taking up slack in the chain. This means is seen in Fig. 3.

The front of the case A is covered by a removable cover-plate 17. (Seen in place in Figs. 1 and 3.) This plate covers the housing 4, the trough-like members 8 and 8, and partially covers the housing (3, its end at the latter housing taking under the fixed faceplate 6 of this housing and abutting against studs 6", Fig. 8, on the inner face of said plate 6, near its front end.

It is essential that the cover-plate 17 shall be readily removable, that it shall not make necessary the removal of the crank at that side, and that it shall fit so snugly as to be practically dust-tight and notrattle. To provide a cover-plate having these characteristics, we proceed as follows: The plate 17 is made from thin sheet material, preferably sheet-steel, and has the contour and dimensions of the gear-case A, except as before explained. At its outer margins the cover-plate takes under overhanging clips 18, Figs. 6 and 7, on the case A, and at its inner margins it has formed on it clips 18*,which engage slight outwardly-turned lips 19 on the two inner margins of the trough-like portions of the case A. In the broader portion of the coverplate 17, where it covers the housing 4, the crank-shaft 20 must extend through it, and provision is made for this and also to permit of the removal of said cover-plate without removing the crank 21. A slot is formed in the cover-plate, extending from the crankshaft to the opening aim the cover-plate, and a slide 17, Fig. 1, is made to fit snugly and dusttight in said slot, the inner end of said slide being of the proper form to fit up to the crankshaft. The inner edge of the cover-plate at each side of the slide 17 takes under clips 18 on the adjacent margin of the case A. On the latter are or may be formed inturned flanges 22 to support the cover-plate while it is being placed.

In placingthe cover-plate on the case A the slide 17 is drawn out and the crank 21 caused to pass through the hole or opening a in the plate. The narrower end of the plate is then passed over the front of the case A, (toward the left in Figs. 1, 2, and 3,) so as to cause the clips 18 to engage its outer edge and be pushed into place, the crank-shaft entering the slot from which the slide 17 has been withdrawn and the end of the plate taking under the plate 6. The clips 18 on the plate finally engage the lips 19 on the inner margins of the trough-like members of the case, and as the plate finally takes its position the inner margin of the end of the opening a therein takes under the lugs 18", and a slight marginal lug 18 on the right-hand or wider end of the gear-case A engages a corresponding locking-recess formed in the end of the plate 1.7, as seen in Fig. 1. The springiness of the metal of the plate 17 permits of this construction of the fastenings. After the plate is in place on the gear-case it is further secured at its broader end by two springhinged hasps 23. (See Fig. 4.) The hasp is hinged to a spring-plate 23 on the cover-plate 17 and has in it a hole which takes over a notched stud on the end of the case A. spring-plate 23 tends to draw the hasp into engagement with the notch or recess in the stud.

To prevent rattling and to keep the coverplate 17 up the more firmly to its seat on the case A, the latter may be provided at suitable points with spring turn-buttons, one of which is illustrated in detail in Fig. 5. This device comprises a tubular casing 2 1-, fixed to the case A and inclosing the shank 24 of a turnbutton, which is capable of axial rotation in the tube 2i. At one end the shank 24: has a jaw 24, and at the other or back end it has a nicked head 2 to receive a screw-driver for turning it. A coil-spring 24 in the tube 24 about the shank of the turn-button tends to draw the jaw 221E firmly up to the coverplate 17 when said jaw is so turned by a screwdriver or other tool as to engage said plate.

It may be said by way of explanation that the slide 15, the screw and nut 15 and 15 and the curved end plate 13 are omitted from Fig. 2 simply for purposes of illustration.

If desired, the gear-case may be provided with an oiler 25, placed over the larger sprocket-wheel 5, as shown in the principal figures.

Having thus described our invention, we claim- 1. A gear-case which forms a substantial part of the frame of a velocipede, said case consisting of an open-fronted housing for the main sprocket-wheel, two open-fronted channels for the chain, a box-like housing for the rear sprocket-wheel, the latter housing hav ing a fixed front plate slotted at front and back to receive the rear-wheel hub and spindie, and being open at its rear edge, a removable closing-plate at the back of the rear housing, a slide in the front plate of said housing The I through which slide the rear spindle passes, said slide being provided with a screw-threaded stem which extends back through the rear closing-plate and a nut on said stem, and an apertured, removable front plate for said gearcase, said plate having an open slot to admit the passage of the crank-shaft and a slide to close said slot, substantially as set forth.

2. A gear-case which forms a substantial part of the frame of a velocipede, said case being open in front except as to the housing for the rear sprocket-wheel and comprising the sprocket-wheel housings, the chain-channels connecting said housings and provided at their outer and inner edges with securing devices to engage corresponding devices on the apertured front plate which closes the gear-case, and the said front plate, the rear end of which takes under the front plate of the rear housing, substantially as set forth.

3. A bicycle-frame having for one of its longitudinal members a gear-casewith housings and channels to embrace and inclose the sprocket-wheels and chain, the housing 6 for the lesser sprocket-wheel, having fixed front and back plates and an open rear end, a removable plate 13, which closes said open end, a slide 15, embracing the rear-wheel spindle and provided with an operating screw and nut, and a slide 16, embracing the hub of the rear wheel, substantially as set forth.

4. A tapered gear-case for a bicycle having end housings 4 and 6, connected by open, trough-like channels 8 and 8 for the runs of the driving-chain, clips 18, on the outer margins of the said channels, and lips 19 in the inner margins thereof, and a cover-plate 17, adapted to fit over the face of said gear-case and to engage the clips 18 at its outer edges, and provided at its inner edges with clips 18, which engage the lips 19 when the cover-plate is in place, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination with the gear-case A, of the cover-plate 17, adapted to fit over the open front of the same, and the spring securing devices on the case, each of said devices comprising a tube 24, fixed to the gear-case, a turn-button, rotatively mounted in said tube and consisting of the shank 24, its jaw 24, adapted to take over the cover-plate, and the nicked head 24, and the spring 24, whereby the jaw of the turn-button is drawn up against the cover-plate, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof we have hereunto signed our names in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK H. NIES. WILLIAM DUNN. Witnesses:

HENRY CONNETT, PETER A. Boss. 

